The Companion Diaries
by Jason S. Black
Summary: ***The Companion Diaries is on an indeterminate hiatus***
1. Vanish

**The Companion Diaries  
"Vanish"**

_If time went anywhere to die, it probably went to Burke's Grocery_.

Such was the motto of everyone who worked at Burke's, and they may have been right. More like a convenience store masquerading as a grocery, the faded tile and flickering fluorescent lights did nothing to hide the dinginess nestled in every corner.

A black-haired boy sat at one of only three registers, the most necessary for the run-down London neighborhood, scrolling through news articles on his smartphone with a thumb bearing a silver ring.

"Can you check the Man U score on there?"

The cashier looked up to see a scruffy, portly, very balding man in a khaki vest, similar to those donned by the other employees. "You know I don't care about footy."

"You sure you're English?" The man chuckled.

"You know I was born in Ireland." If one listened closely, one would notice a slight Irish lilt among the Queen's English. "Plus, the English have to be the only people in the world who take football that seriously." He expected a snarky response, but got nothing; when he looked back to the aisle the man had been standing in, he saw nothing there.

"Karl?" He shook his head. "Must've stepped out for a smoke."

"Patrick?"

The cashier lifted his head. "Yeah?"

"I'm going to take the trash out."

"Right-o." If Gerald, the other employee scheduled for that night, was taking out the trash, it meant it was time to lock up. It also meant he'd be alone in the store.

With a sigh, he locked the front doors and turned back to the store, but something gave him pause: he hadn't heard the back door open.

"Gerald? Karl?" He steadied the tremble he felt in his chest and went down the central aisle to the back. The lights were flickering in the small back office, and the trash bags were still piled up by the door. Pat's breath caught in his chest, and he jumped when he heard a series of sounds partway between whirring and grinding. A trembling hand pushed the door open, and a hush settled over everything. "Hello?"

A look around the alley told him that nobody had been out there all night, and he stood there for a moment; the world seemed to blink.

"Don't stand still!"

The cry echoed down the alley behind the store, and Patrick jumped as the thunder of footsteps followed the words. Nerves flickering with electricity, he slipped out the back door and started to run. As soon as he was on the street, he looked back and saw a man running after him; a man with brown hair sweeping to the right and sporting a bow tie.

"Don't stop!" The stranger's hand flailed, urging him onward. Their footsteps resounded off of the sidewalk, and Pat's heart stopped when the toe of his shoe connected with a bit of raised pavement. Everything shuddered for a second before he hit the ground, and time seemed to stop when he did.

"Are you okay?"

Patrick managed to get onto his knees and looked up to see the same man that he'd seen in the alley. "What happened?"

The man extended his hand and Patrick took it, getting to his feet. "Well, I'm not sure, but you don't need to run anymore."

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"Just, the Doctor."

"Where did you come from?"

"Over there." The Doctor pointed down the alley. "Say, do you have...oh, I don't know, a flat around here or something?"

"You trying to go home with me? You've got to buy me dinner first." Patrick's voice reflected the butterflies in his stomach, not the humor in his words.

The Doctor flushed. "No, nothing like that. I just need to figure out what's going on."

"Okay, then. I live two blocks from the store. Come on." Patrick was the first to turn the corner, making the Doctor crash into him when he stopped. "Oh my god."

They both stared, rooted in place by a skeleton lying on the ground in front of the store.

Pat broke through the silence. "That wasn't there this afternoon. You think someone would have noticed something like that."

"It seems like there's more at work here than I realized." The Doctor turned to the boy. "How about that flat?"

"You lucked out, Mr. Doctor. Most 20-year-olds can't afford their own flat on a grocer's wage." Patrick led them down the sidewalk and across two streets. "Wait a second, no cars in downtown London at-" He checked his phone. "Do you know what time it is?" Dread shone in his face.

"It isn't."

"What do you mean, it isn't? Time is. It can't be...isn't!"

"I understand what you're trying to say, but we're in a time that isn't. Technically."

Pat's nostrils flared as he dug for the key to the outer door of the complex he lived in. "You'd better have a good explanation for this, Doctor." Another key opened a lock on a door right inside, and he gestured for his guest to enter. "Please, don't mind the mess. The housekeeper quit when I moved out of Mum and Dad's."

The Doctor chuckled. "I don't mind it at all! It's lived-in." He took a seat on an overstuffed recliner.

"So why did you need to come here to figure things out? You seem to know what's going on here."

"Well, I've only seen something like this a few times before."

Pat raised an eyebrow.

"We're...hidden away, a second out of sync with the rest of the world."

"Like a second behind?"

The Doctor's look chilled Patrick's blood. "You know when the audio on a video is out of sync? Where the words come a second before they're supposed to be said? We're the audio, and the rest of the world is the video."

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"Dead serious."

Pat sat down on the sofa and put his face in his hands. "Okay, so what does that make you? Some sort of authority on time?"

"You might say that. I am a Time Lord."

"A Time Lord? So you're mad."

"I only wish I were."

"So what's a Time Lord?"

"To you, I'm an alien."

"Like, from across the pond?"

The Doctor smiled. "If you call the universe a pond."

Patrick's eyes went wide as he buried his face in his hands again. "Okay, so you're a time-traveling alien Time Lord and we're skipping through time. I can handle this. I can handle this." His hands muffled his voice.

"If it makes you feel any better, you're not the only human who's had to deal with anything like this."

Patrick looked up at the Doctor. "Really?

"Really."

"Okay, so now we've established that I've gone barmy or this is actually happening, so what do we do? What's going on with the skipping?"

"Like I said, I've only seen it a few times before. It can happen on accident, but most of the time, it's happened on purpose."

"Somebody did this?"

"It's entirely possible." The Doctor looked out the window that separated them from the street and frowned. "There's somebody else here." Patrick scrambled to the Doctor's side and caught sight of a hooded, cloaked figure sporting what looked to be a metal mask across the street. "And I think we just found our somebody."

They both ran out of the flat and stopped when they saw the figure, still standing there.

"Who are you?" The Doctor crossed his arms, but received no reply; instead, the stranger flickered and disappeared. They hurried to the spot and Patrick froze when he noticed a seemingly blank business card. He picked it up, flipped it over, and noticed a symbol: a letter M with an arrow tail.

"That's the symbol for Scorpio." The Doctor squinted at the card.

"Scorpio? Like, the star sign?"

"Yeah. Methinks that's the name of our someone. And our someone can teleport." Both of them tensed when the world shuddered again; suddenly, people appeared around them.

"What happened?" Patrick looked around, and jumped when someone yelled.

"Oi! Patrick, you tosser!" Gerald, the assistant manager, no less, stormed down the alley, spraying spittle and reminding Patrick of Uncle Vernon from _Harry Potter_. "Where the hell have you been?!"

Pat's nostrils flared again. "Gerald, now is not the time!"

Gerald stopped and looked at both of them. "Who the hell is this?!"

"Never mind that! What do you want?"

"You'd better show some respect, especially after you left without locking up!"

"I'm not calling you a liar, but I locked up. If I remember correctly, nobody took out the trash."

"Listen here, Mister Patrick, I-"

The world shuddered again and Gerald vanished, leaving Patrick wide-eyed. "I think I need to sit down. There's a bus bench 'round the corner." As soon as they turned the corner, they caught sight of the skeleton again.

"Okay, why do we keep seeing this? Wait, do you see that?" Patrick ran over to it and knelt down; a bracelet was around the wrist of the remains. "This looks like it was made by a kid." Blocky white beads strung together by fishing line spelled CATRINA, and Patrick looked up at the Doctor. "Was this a little girl?"

"Looks like it." The Doctor looked around as the world shifted, bringing them back in sync with the rest of London and making the skeleton vanish.

"So what do we do now?"

"We figure out who that skeleton belonged to. What year is this?"

Patrick laughed. "2013."

"Alright, then. Geronimo."

Before he knew it, Patrick was back at his flat with the Doctor, who had taken it upon himself to start combing the Web for anything that might help them.

"Was her name spelled with a K or a C?"

The image of the bracelet had burned into Patrick's memory. "C."

"Look at this." When Patrick had view of the screen, the Doctor read the article he'd found. "Catrina Evans, 14, was found murdered in front of...Burke's Grocery. Look at this! During the investigation, the body vanished, leaving police baffled as to how it disappeared from a closed crime scene."

"Her body vanished?"

"Apparently. Another article says that nobody was ever prosecuted because of lack of evidence."

"How long ago did this happen? Did they find any clues before her body vanished?"

"It happened in 2007, and the police said that it looked like she'd been physically assaulted."

"Wait a second, if someone can take us in and out of sync with time, why can't that someone bring the skeleton back in sync?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Unless it wasn't that someone who sent the remains out of sync in the first place."

"Do you think that if we go out of sync again that we could take it with us?"

"Maybe, but more than likely, if Scorpio can't bring it back in sync, we can't."

"Okay, so why does Scorpio keep bringing us back to the skeleton?"

"Do you believe this girl, Catrina, was beaten outside of your workplace?"

"Well, I didn't start working for Burke's until 2010, so why me? Why did Scorpio send me out of sync with the universe and not, oh, I don't know, a policeman?"

The Doctor's brow furrowed as he looked at Patrick. "Did you ever ask me what I was doing here?"

Patrick's brow furrowed. "I don't think I did. Getting thrown out of proper time takes your mind off things like that."

"I'm here because someone sent me a message."

"What kind of message?"

"The same one you got."

"Scorpio?"

"Not many people can send me a personal message. I pick up on distress signals, but I didn't get one of those, so we're either dealing with someone brilliant...or someone dangerous. Maybe both. Hang on a tick!" The Doctor pulled out a metal wand and started sweeping the room with it; it emitted a high-pitched whirr. "Aha! There's alien technology around! It must be what's sending us out of sync."

"So what do we do?"

"Well, first instinct is to find it and shut it down, but then again, why would Scorpio keep bringing us back to that skeleton?"

"The news said that she looked like she'd been beaten. Maybe the person who did that-"

"- never got caught? Do you think Scorpio wants us to find the killer?"

"It would make sense, as if anything tonight makes sense."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "You're taking this awfully well for someone who got shifted in time."

"You're a Time Lord, I'm going in and out of sync with the universe; I guess with aliens crashing into Big Ben and hospitals disappearing to the moon, this shouldn't seem so strange."

"Oh, yeah, it's 2013! So, let's just say that we're supposed to find the killer. Where do we even start?"

"I have no idea. What time is it?" Patrick pulled out his phone. "10:26. Gerald would probably still be at the store, and he's been there for ages. Maybe he's heard something?"

"Right, then. Let's go!"

They ran from the flat and down the street, now less populated with cars and people, until they reached the alley behind the store. Patrick pounded on the back door, and it flew open to reveal a red-faced Gerald.

"You've got a lot of nerve, Patrick! Showing your face around here after you ditch out on work!"

Patrick's jaw set. "Now is not the time! I need to know if you know anything about a girl who was killed in front of the store 6 years ago!"

Gerald froze, eyes wide. "What do you mean? Little girl?"

"2007? A little girl died in front of the store. They think she was killed. Weren't you working here? Did you see anything?"

"Go home, Patrick."

"But I need-"

"Go home!" Gerald slammed the back door, and Patrick looked at the Doctor.

"What do you think?"

The Doctor hummed for a few seconds. "Those don't seem like the actions of someone who wants that kind of subject brought up. I have an idea, though. Come on." He led them around the building and took out the metal wand again. It emitted the same whirr and seemed to focus on the roof of a building across the street; the same one they'd seen Scorpio in front ofs before. "Scorpio!"

The stranger appeared at the building's entrance.

"We need your help."

Scorpio nodded, and the Doctor smiled when the figure vanished.

Patrick frowned. "Wait, you didn't even tell him what we needed his help with! Hell, you didn't even tell _me_ what you needed his help with!"

The Doctor put a hand up. "Stay 'round front here. When you see me and Gerald, say 'now' very, very loudly. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but I-"

The Doctor set his hand on Patrick's shoulder. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be just fine. While I'm away, call the police. Tell them to get here as soon as possible, that we have Catrina Evans' murderer."

"Wait, how do you know that Gerald killed her?"

"If he didn't, the skeleton will definitely jar some memories." With that, the Doctor ran around the building again and pulled out his sonic screwdriver when he reached the back door. The lock clicked and he opened the door, catching Gerald off guard.

"How the hell did you open the lock?"

"Don't you worry about that. Why didn't you want to talk about Catrina Evans?"

The other man blanched. "Get out of my store."

"We're calling the police." The Doctor slammed the door shut and, after a second with his screwdriver, locked the door again. The lock clicked, but the screwdriver made sure that Gerald couldn't open it. "That's it, go for the only other door out." He ran around to the front of the building just in time to see the front door fly open.

Patrick's heart skipped a beat when he saw both men. "NOW!"

The world shuddered and Gerald almost tripped over his body's sudden stop at the sight of the remains. "How did you get this? It disappeared!"

"What's going on here, Mister Gerald?" The Doctor stepped closer to the assistant manager.

Patrick's eyes narrowed. "Did you kill her? Did you beat a little girl to death?"

Gerald had the pallor of a sheet. "I would never..."

"What then?!" Pat's hands clenched into fists at his sides.

"I hit her with my car! I was driving home from the pub and she ran in front of my car!"

The Doctor cleared his throat. "She didn't run in front of the car, did she? You didn't see her while you were driving because you were drunk."

"I-" Gerald seemed unable to form more than that as the Doctor took a few steps closer; the man could practically feel the latent heat emanating from the Time Lord. It crushed him down into a singularity and stripped away all pretense of pride and courage.

"How did you know that, Doctor?" Patrick's hands unclenched.

"Look at the bones. She's lying face down. She was hit from behind; you can see her spine's broken. This was an accident, yes, but he drove away."

Patrick felt like he'd been stabbed in the chest. "And her body vanished when it went out of sync with the rest of the world."

The Doctor stepped in front of Gerald, eyes ablaze. "I want you to say everything you just told us. Out loud. Very, very loudly."

Gerald made a sound like he was being strangled. "No!" Somehow, the word managed to escape his lips, but he shied away when the Doctor closed the space between them to almost nothing. The Doctor's eyes burned into Gerald's, bringing whispers of destruction that anyone who knew the Doctor would never be coming...unless the man complied, that is.

"NOW!" The word shot from the Doctor's mouth like a cannon's roar.

"I killed Catrina Evans! I hit her with my car and drove off!"

A second before the assistant manager yelled out his confession, the world rushed back and found them surrounded by police cars, lights flashing everywhere. A gasp went through the crowd of people that had somehow gathered around in the time they'd spent out of sync. The policemen moved in and the Doctor stepped aside, making his way over to Patrick.

"How are they going to convict him without any evidence?" Patrick crossed his arms.

"We go to part two of the plan." The Doctor's smile was contagious as he gave a hand signal; the world shuddered and suddenly, the skeleton was visible to _everyone_ on the street, and the police wasted no time in taking the bracelet off of the remains. "They can use that as evidence; I have a feeling that they'll contact Catrina's parents. If they can identify it, that's enough evidence to convict."

"You thought of everything, didn't you?" Patrick felt the world shift back.

"I always do. I'm the Doctor."

They laughed and walked away from the crime scene, around the building. Patrick cast a glance at the other man. "So now what? The assistant manager is probably getting sacked, and I think I'm sick of Burke's. It's probably going to go out of business anyway, what with the news of a kid killer working there."

"Well, I have one more thing to show you. You've seen my psychic paper, you've seen my sonic screwdriver, now it's time to see my TARDIS."

"TARDIS?"

"It stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space."

Patrick narrowed his eyes as he followed the Doctor into the alley, where he caught sight of something he'd missed simply due to the way the back door swung open: a blue phone box. "This is a TARDIS?"

The Doctor gave a wolfish grin. "You should see the inside." A snap of his fingers opened the door, and Patrick stepped inside; his jaw hit the floor when he saw something impossible.

"It's bigger on the inside!" Unbeknownst to Patrick, the Doctor had mouthed the words along with him. "How?"

"The perks of being a Time Lord."

"It's amazing, but what now, Doctor?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just have to go back to normal life, sans grocery job?"

"It doesn't have to be like that if you don't want it to."

"What other option do I have? It's not like I have a TARDIS."

"Do you want to?"

"What?" Patrick froze.

"I can take you anywhere in the universe, any time in history, for one trip. Give you something to marvel at for the rest of your life."

"One trip, to anywhere and any time I want?"

The Doctor nodded.

"You've got yourself a deal, Doctor. Just make it somewhere good."

"That's really up to you, isn't it?"

They both jumped when a knock sounded at the door. With careful steps, they moved toward it and the Doctor snapped his fingers; the door slid open and they saw Scorpio standing there, arms crossed.

"You did well, Doctor." Scorpio's mechanical voice grated through the air.

"As did you, but tell me, how did her remains shift in time?"

"It was caused by the creation of a timeline that altered events."

"An alternate universe?"

"Indeed. Created by something that altered, undid, a very important series of events. Even temporarily."

"Do you mean Donna?"

"If that was her name." The Doctor's hearts skipped a beat, then seemed to vanish from his chest. Even after he'd left her behind and vanished from her life...

The Doctor put on an amused expression. "Fair enough. Will we ever see you again?"

"Sooner than you think, Doctor." With that, Scorpio vanished and the Doctor turned to Patrick.

"So, where to?"

TO BE CONTINUED...?


	2. 14461

**The Companion Diaries**

"**14/4/61"**

The TARDIS vibrated as it hurtled through space and time, and the Doctor operated its controls with a clumsy grace.

"So, have you decided where you'd like to go?" The Time Lord flipped a few switches on one of the box's control panels and the TARDIS gave a lurch, almost sending his new passenger flying onto the floor.

"Let's see...so many interesting points in history; which one do I choose?" Patrick stabilized himself and eyed the control panel. So many levers, so many knobs; it seemed like nobody could ever figure out how to pilot the box, but the Doctor knew how.

"Well, there are so many, and I've been to my fair share of them. Any important historical events you'd like to witness?"

"What about the JFK assassination?"

The Doctor made a face. "Been there, done that. I even know why Oswald shot him."

Patrick frowned. "Well, that's no fun!" He cocked his head when he heard a ringing. "Is that a phone? In a time machine?"

"Hey, even Time Lords need a way to communicate with people! But there's only one person..." He opened a panel on one of the control panels and pulled out a mobile phone."Hello? You what? A tipping point? Really? Alright then. See you soon."

"Who was that?"

The Doctor beamed. "An old friend in need of some help. Are you up for an adventure?"

"This doesn't count as my one trip, does it?" Patrick raised an eyebrow.

"Not unless you want it to!"

"I don't!"

The TARDIS lurched again. "Geronimo, then!" After a few minutes of bucking wildly, the box stopped. "We're here."

The door opened to reveal a group of soldiers standing at attention; Patrick looked around to see metal walls and walkways, and more people than he could count, all armed with guns. "Doctor..."

The soldiers parted to reveal a dark skinned woman in a black uniform. "Hello, Doctor. You look...different. _Love_ the bow tie, by the way." She raised an eyebrow and gave a partial smile.

The Doctor's face split in a wide grin. "Martha Jones, as I live and breathe!" He stepped forward to wrap his arms around her and she returned the favor with gusto. "How have you been?"

"Oh, just recovering from holiday in Switzerland. I see you have a new Companion." She cast a glance at Patrick.

"Who, Patrick? He's hitching a ride. I owe him one trip."

"This isn't going to be like when you were going to take _me_ on one trip, is it?" Her smile faltered.

"Excuse me, what do you mean?"

Both the Doctor and Martha looked at Patrick, but only the latter spoke. "Let's go in the lounge. You look like you could use a coffee."

The Doctor adjusted his tie. "I don't drink coffee, thanks."

Martha raised an eyebrow again. "I was talking about _him_." She led them down a few hallways and into what looked like a badly-maintained break room populated by a few tables, appliances, counters, and a couch. "Have a seat." He complied, and she spent a few minutes at the counter before coming back with a cup for Patrick. He mumbled his thanks and took a sip. "So where'd you pick him up at?" She regarded the Doctor.

"London, 2013, actually. Time shift. Complicated. Murder."

"I see. And how are you doing?" She turned her gaze to Patrick.

"I'm time traveling with an alien Time Lord. How d'you think I'm doing?" He downed more of the bitter liquid. "At least I'm alive."

"Well, for now." She looked at the floor.

"What do you mean by that?" Patrick's eyes narrowed.

She frowned at the Doctor. "You haven't told him, have you?" When she received a sheepish shrug, she sighed. "Go wait at the TARDIS. I need to talk to Patrick before I fill you in."

"Do I really have to wait at the TARDIS? Are you going to tell him bad things about me?"

"I assume he'd be coming with us, so I want to make sure that he knows what could happen if he decided to go."

The Doctor blew a raspberry at her. "Fine, fine." He and a few soldiers left the lounge and Martha sat back in her chair as the door to the room slid closed.

"So, 2013, huh? Do you know what year it is here?"

Patrick shook his head.

"2018."

"I'm in the future?"

"Not that far, but yeah."

"Where are we?"

"We're at the UNIT base in New York City. We're a government agency that deals with extraterrestrial crises."

"Extraterrestrial? As in, aliens? Like the Doctor?"

Martha nodded.

"So what are we doing here?"

"I need the Doctor's help. Someone or something is trying to change an important historical event."

"So why do you need to talk to me?"

"It's a long story. I used to travel with the Doctor. He found me when the hospital I was working at got transported to the moon. I didn't know what going along with him would be like, but you need to."

"Why?"

She locked eyes with him. "It's wonderful; going to alien planets and different points in time, but it's dangerous. I came so close to dying so many times; I thought I'd never see my family again. I thought I'd never see them come to harm. People I love were put in danger because I became his Companion. Are you prepared to deal with that? Because you can just stay here...or go home. I know he said he'd take you on one trip, but it's never just one."

"Can I tell you the truth?"

She nodded.

"My parents kicked me out of the house when I was 16. I've been living on my own since then, working at this god-awful grocer's. As far as I'm concerned, I don't have anyone I love to put in danger. I don't really have anything to lose if go with him."

"You could lose your life."

Patrick gulped his coffee. "It's a risk I'm willing to take, I guess."

"Well, I think it might be best if you stayed here, and I won't have any arguments. We'll keep you safe."

"But-"

"No but. You," she took the time to point at him, "stay here." She pushed a button on the device around her wrist. "Can I get a guard at the lounge door, please?"

"A guard?" Patrick shot to his feet.

"Yes, a guard. If you're resourceful like all of the Doctor's Companions, you'll find a way out of this room." She got up and walked to the door. "I know I would." Her eyes flitted to the floor for a brief second before she opened the door.

"Wait! Can't I at least talk to the Doctor?"

She chuckled. "Nice try. He's the master of getting hidden messages to his Companions. You'll be fine. We'll be back in no time." With that, she left, and the door to the room slid closed.

Sighing, he sat back in his chair but when his clothes shifted, he felt something in his pocket jabbing him in the side. Frowning, he reached in and produced the metal wand, the Sonic Screwdriver, he'd seen the Doctor use.

"What's this?" He turned it over and over in his hands, inspecting the outside; a chain wrapped around the Screwdriver held a key in place. Looking around, he slipped it back in his pocket and jumped when his mobile rang; the caller ID read THE TARDIS. He answered the phone as his breath caught in his chest.

"Patrick, listen to me. Martha probably just left, which means I only have a minute before she gets here. The Sonic Screwdriver can open locks and overload the sonic frequency of UNIT wrist communicators. Just point, think really hard, and press the button. By the way, that's a TARDIS key and-"

The call ended and Patrick licked his lips. What was going on? Did the Doctor...

Patrick took a deep breath and got up, taking a few unsteady steps toward the door. The Screwdriver went from his pocket to aimed at the door.

_Open sesame. Open sesame. Open sesame._

The tool made a whirr and the door slid open, surprising a soldier on the other side. Pat pointed at the man's wrist.

_Overload. Overload. Overload._

The device made an eardrum-shattering noise and the soldier dropped to his knees, allowing Patrick to run past him and down the hallway to where the Doctor parked the TARDIS. Thankfully, no soldiers guarded it and an easily-inserted key allowed him access. As soon as the door shut, it locked and the Doctor appeared next to the control panel.

"Hello, Patrick! No, it's not me. Hologram. Anyway, hide."

The talking image vanished as Patrick dove for cover; the door to the TARDIS opened. The space under the control panel seemed like the perfect place, and he could see two people walking up to the "bridge."

Martha's voice was the first Patrick heard. "Are you ready to go, Doctor?"

"Just like old times." Even though he felt like a stowaway, the Doctor's voice comforted him. Everything shifted wildly as the engines started, sending them rocketing to some unknown time and place.

After what seemed like an eternity, the blue box stopped and the people standing above him started talking, though Patrick couldn't make out what they were saying. He could, however, make out "Let's go" from Martha as both of them walked out of the TARDIS; soon, a strange silence settled over the bridge.

"Great. I'm in the TARDIS without the Doctor and I'm relatively certain that I just traveled through time. And now I'm talking to myself." He threw up his arms and froze when he noticed a blinking red light. When he kneeled to investigate, he saw a piece of paper with a flashing red disc attached to it. Unfolding the note revealed handwriting he'd never seen before.

_Patrick,_

_I wrote this when Martha sent me back to the TARDIS, and if you're as clever as I think you are, you've managed to sneak on board. Good for you! The monitor above the control panel will tell you where and in what time we are. Above all else, if you decide to leave the TARDIS, which you probably will, stay out of the way of history; otherwise, please try to find me as soon as you can._

_Cheers!_

_The Doctor_

He swallowed a lump in his throat and emerged from under the bridge, making his way to the control panel. The blood in his veins seemed to turn to ice when he saw the image on the monitor: HAVANA, CUBA 14/4/1961.

"Oh my god..." He took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay, I'm in Cuba. In 1961. I need to find the Doctor." He turned and walked toward the front door, hesitating with his hand on it for a moment before pushing it open. "Hello!" Patrick raised both hands in the air and waved as two soldiers aimed their rifles at him; a smile froze on his face.

"You are not authorized to be here! Come with us!" One of the soldiers jabbed him in the chest and Patrick's arms fell to his side as he stepped toward them; both barrels poking him in each shoulder motivated him to walk. Soon, they reached a set of elegant wooden double doors with another pair of guards posted outside; they opened the way to a spacious office already occupied by a few people. One of those people, the Doctor, turned around and lit up with a smile.

"Patrick! So good of you to join us. I knew you would!"

Martha turned around, eyes burning as soon as she saw Patrick. "I thought I told you to stay at UNIT Headquarters! I locked the door!"

Patrick bit his lip when he pulled the Screwdriver out of his pocket, and the UNIT agent's nostrils flared before she started laughing.

"You sure know how to pick a Companion, Doctor, I'll give you that, but he shouldn't be here." Everyone turned to look when someone cleared their throat. When Patrick stepped forward, his eyes shot open when he saw a dark-skinned man sporting a long, curly beard and a military uniform.

"Excuse me, Doctor, but who is that?"

Patrick swallowed. "Is that-"

The Doctor took a step forward. "Yes, President Castro, this is my adviser and Companion, Patrick."

Castro raised an eyebrow. "I see."

Patrick's jaw set for a moment. "How do you know the Doctor, President Castro?"

Martha turned to the country's leader. "Excuse us, President; apparently, nobody briefed the adviser about our mission." The guards stepped aside to let them pass into the hallway, and she turned to stop them once the door closed. "Look, you're not even supposed to be here, but since you are, you need to know what's going on. This is _highly classified_ information, by the way, so don't go telling people about it when you get home. Nobody's likely to believe you if you do, but there are a few people out there who might.

"Anyway, UNIT picked up on some unusual rift activity and found out that time was starting to unravel at different points. The latest one was yesterday somewhere in the Sahara Desert, and we found out that someone or something traveled back in time to alter a fixed point. We need to make sure that it doesn't happen."

Patrick frowned. "So we're working with Cuba?"

"We can't trust the US government, unfortunately; it's run by an alien."

"Wait, who?"

"John F. Kennedy."

Patrick felt as if he'd been punched in the sternum. "Okay, so the President of the United States is an alien. Wait, what happens on April 14, 1961?"

"Nothing. This is the day before the Bay of Pigs Invasion, but Cuban Intelligence says that the US has a weapon that can obliterate their forces." Martha pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and opened it.

"It looks like a laser cannon."

"Exactly. If the US military can use it, they'll change history. We think that JFK sent out a distress signal that one of his race picked up on in the future, traveled back in time, and gave him the laser cannons. We need to sabotage it so it never have a chance to be used."

"And how are we going to do that?"

The Doctor tapped Martha on the shoulder. "Can I tell him this part?" When she rolled her eyes and nodded, he cleared his throat. "We're going to use the TARDIS to get aboard the ship it's on and destroy it!"

"Okay, but I don't think it'll be as easy as you're making it seem."

Martha chuckled. "It never is. JFK's called in reinforcements from his planet in this time, and they're armed to the, er, teeth."

"So Castro expects us to do all of this before tomorrow? What happens if we succeed?"

Martha crossed her arms. "Well, the Bay of Pigs Invasion will result in defeat for the US and we save the world in the process."

"And if we fail?"

Martha opened her mouth to speak, but the Doctor clapped a hand over it. "Patrick, why are you talking about such impossibilities? There's no way we can fail! We have Martha, and we have you! And me, of course. What more do you need? Now, let's go back to Castro and see what to do next."

With that, they all went back into El Presidente's office and stopped in front of his desk.

"Has he been briefed?" He smiled when the Doctor nodded. "Excellent. We commence in an hour. Prepare yourself, Doctor. We've set up a space where you and your associates can do so; just follow the guards." He clapped his hands and the men that had escorted Patrick to the office stepped forward. "Please, show the Doctor and his associates out."

The guards guided them out of the room and down the hall to a set of double doors that opened to reveal what seemed to be a well-decorated study. Once the doors closed, the Doctor turned to his associates.

Patrick cleared his throat. "So wait, don't they speak Spanish in Cuba? Why did it sound like Castro was speaking English?"

The Doctor looked at him. "The TARDIS translates other languages to English and the English you speak to other languages. It's a whole telepathic connection to the TARDIS thing. Okay, so it looks like we're supposed to destroy the cannon _before_ the Invasion tomorrow. Makes sense."

Patrick frowned. "Wait, why before? Wouldn't it make more sense to do it during the Invasion?"

The Doctor shook his head. "If we complete our mission the night before, then JFK will never even have a chance to get it to Cuba. The closer we get to tomorrow, the less of a chance we'll have to ensure that history happens the way it's supposed to."

"Right, but if I recall, my question never got answered."

"What question?"

"How do you know Fidel Castro?"

Martha put a hand up. "I'll field this one. We picked up a distress call on our systems, and we traced it back to a few days before today. We used a vortex manipulator to travel here and found out that Castro sent the signal for this very reason; his spies in the US found out about the weapon, but he didn't know who to go to for help. Unfortunately, he didn't know about the one person who could help because there's no information whatsoever," she paused to look at the Doctor with a raised eyebrow, "on him, so I offered to contact the Doctor, and here we are."

Patrick let out a low whistle and flopped into a chair. "Sorry. This is a lot to take in."

Martha stepped over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. You're handling it better than I did when I went along with the Doctor."

He looked into her eyes. "Really?" His shoulders relaxed when she smiled and nodded.

The Doctor adjusted his bow tie. "Shall we?" When both of his associates nodded, they exited the study and went down the hall to the TARDIS, which had two new guards standing in front of it. "Excuse me, boys!" They lowered their guns, allowing the trio access to the time machine, and the Doctor immediately ran over to the panel and began fiddling with the various knobs, dials, and buttons. The box roared to life, sending them rocketing toward their destination; after a few minutes of rocking and bumpiness, things became still. "We're here! Patrick, I dropped something through the floor grate. Could you be dear and retrieve it for me?"

"Sure!" Patrick ran down the ramp; as soon as he did, the Doctor gave Martha a hand signal that made her frown, but the same signal again clarified its meaning and they both moved with hasty steps to the front door. As soon as it slid open, the Doctor shut it.

Patrick, meanwhile, saw that the Doctor had dropped the Screwdriver, and he shook his head while chuckling. "Figures." He clambered out from under the deck just in time to see the front door close. "Wait!" He ran to the door, but stopped when he heard a voice coming from the other side.

"_No, nobody else is in there, but if someone_ was_, I'm sure that person would be smart enough not to come out. I'm also certain that that smart person would know _exactly_ what to do with what I dropped."_

Patrick put a hand on his chest in an effort to calm his heart; what he'd heard could only mean one thing, and that meant that he did, in fact, know what to do with the Sonic Screwdriver.

In the meantime, humanoid guards with wildcat-like facial features escorted the Doctor and his former Companion to a jail cell; when they were inside, one of the guards growled. "The Commander will be in to speak with you shortly."

Martha let out a sigh and took a seat on one of the benches protruding from the wall. "Well, we've gone and gotten ourselves captured. Just like old times, eh?"

The Doctor laughed. "Well thankfully, we have a great person with us."

"Do you really think he's great enough to come save us?"

The Doctor's eyes sparkled. "He was great enough to get past armed UNIT guards."

Martha laughed. "So, how've you been? The last time I saw you, there was that whole DoctorDonna thing."

The smile faded ever so briefly from the Doctor's face. "Well, I took on this lovely couple, the Ponds-" He swallowed as he choked on the last word he'd spoken. "We got separated. I got married, I 'died,' and now I'm traveling with Patrick."

"Wait, what? Married?!"

"Yes, married; in an alternate timeline, mind you, but still married."

"Who would be mad enough to marry you?!"

"An equally mad woman."

"Makes sense. So what-" She got cut off by someone stepping into view outside the bars; getting to her feet, her mouth fell open when their visitor revealed themselves to be none other than John Fitzgerald Kennedy. "So _this_ is what he meant when he said Commander."

"The Commander-in-Chief, to be precise."

JFK cleared his throat. "Now, what do we have here? Spies? I've got to say, I'm impressed you were able to get on board, much less under the radar."

The Doctor smiled. "I aim to please, Mr. President, and I know exactly what I'm dealing with. Firaxans." Kennedy's eyes went wide. "I've encountered the likes of you before; constantly warring amongst different factions, constantly striving to conquer by sabotage. Why Earth?"

The President's nostrils flared. "Well, you seem to know quite a bit about who we are and what we do, but the bigger question is: who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor and this is Martha Jones."

"The Doctor? Doctor Who?" At this remark, the Doctor and Martha laughed. "This isn't funny! Who sent you?"

"Castro. We assured him that we could destroy your secret weapon."

"I should've known. Damn Cubans; they've been nothing but trouble for me since I got elected, but no matter. I've captured his spies and the invasion will go on as planned." JFK turned and walked away, leaving the sound of a slamming metal door in his wake.

"Now what?" Martha sat back down on the bench. "Wait, what about the Sonic Screwdriver?"

"Unfortunately, I dropped it back in the TARDIS."

Martha buried her face in her hands before looking at the Doctor. "Wait a second-" Her eyes went wide. "Did you-?

The door the President exited opened and Patrick stepped into view.

"See, I _knew_ you'd be here to rescue us!" The Doctor beamed.

Martha ran up to the bars. "How did you know where to find us?"

The Screwdriver hummed as Patrick pointed it at the cell's lock; it clicked open. "Well, I couldn't exactly ask anyone for directions, so I got myself caught. The guards are all wearing earpieces; I just overloaded them. They brought me right here."

The Doctor almost skipped out of the cell, wrapping his arms around Patrick. "You wonderful, _brilliant_ person! Now, we just need to find the weapon and destroy it, but where would they be keeping it? Yes, the deck! Nowhere else _to_ put it! Onwards and upwards!" He snatched the Screwdriver from Patrick's hand and ran out of the room, Companions in tow. The Doctor neutralized any guards they encountered and after a minute, an alarm started sounding through the entire ship; before long, a door led them out onto the deck. The salt in the mist covering the ship stung their nostrils, but the sensation became forgotten when they all caught sight of the behemoth occupying the prow.

"Oh my-" Martha's mouth hung open like a codfish, but they all turned around when they heard more than a few footfalls behind them. Firaxan guards formed a line in front of them, each one toting guns clearly not of this world, and it parted to let the President through. Kenendy leveled one of the alien rifles at the Doctor.

"I don't know how you managed to get past my guards or break out of your cell, Doctor, but your mission ends here."

The Doctor crossed his arms. "I don't know about that, Mr. President. We've got me, someone trained specifically to deal with situations like this, and my secret weapon."

JFK laughed. "Against me and an entire ship of guards? How do you honestly expect to get out of this alive?" He, the guards, and the odd trio jumped when an explosion rocked the rear of the warship.

In the chaos, the Doctor grabbed Martha and Patrick, pulling them to the side of the laser cannon. He handed the Screwdriver to Patrick. "Overload their guns!" Patrick nodded, leaving the Doctor to punch keys on the cannon's control panel. Rifle fire erupted through the air, some nearly hitting them; Patrick managed to stave some of it off with the Screwdriver, but his eyes widened when a few weaponless guards ran toward them.

"Doctor!" Patrick disarmed a few more.

"I've got this!" Martha leaped into action, using a few choice moves to take down the Firaxans as she called upon all of her UNIT hand-to-hand experience.

"Almost done!" He punched a few more keys and turned to his Companions. "Let's go! I've reversed the energy flow and this cannon's going to blow!" They all ran for the door that led them onto the deck, taking down guards along the way, but Kennedy stood in the threshold, still toting a rifle.

"Well, it seems that we're _all_ going down with this ship, Doctor." He let out a yelp when his gun overloaded at a mere point of the Screwdriver; it hit the floor with a clatter.

The Doctor stepped forward. "You'd best leave, Mr. President. You have an invasion in the morning." When Kennedy's mouth opened to speak, he continued. "Besides, now isn't your time to go."

After a few moments, Martha rushed forward and elbowed JFK in the face; he hit the deck like a sack of flour. "Sorry about that, Mister President." They all ran through the door and the maze of hallways that led them back to the TARDIS. The turbulence aboard the ship threw them all off balance, but the Doctor got to the control panel and kicked the box into gear.

When it stopped, they exited into UNIT Headquarters, greeted by several soldiers and Lieutenant General Sanchez.

Martha stepped forward with a big smile. "Mission accomplished, Lieutenant General. The timeline's been preserved."

Sanchez smiled as well. "Excellent work, all of you. Your work is invaluable."

"Can we have a moment?"

The Lieutenant nodded, signaling the soldiers to leave with him; Martha turned to the Doctor and Patrick. "Thank you. _Both_ of you."

The Doctor smiled. "Think nothing of it."

"Patrick, could you wait inside the TARDIS? I just have some...things to discuss with the Doctor." Patrick nodded. "You were brilliant, by the way. You're everything I could have expected out of one of the Doctor's Companions."

Patrick blushed. "Thank you." He turned and slipped inside the box.

Martha chuckled as she focused back on the Doctor. "You both really were brilliant."

"What'd you expect?"

Martha laughed, but her smile faded. "Are you going to take him home?"

"What?"

"This is a lot for him to take in. Are you really going to take him with you?"

"I'd say that's up to him."

"I've already told him what it's like to travel with you."

"Given that, he should be informed enough to make a decision."

She bit her lip. "He told me that he's been kicked out of his parents' house, that he doesn't have anything to lose by going with you. I just hope that's true." She closed the space between him and wrapped him in a hug. "Thank you, Doctor."

He stepped back and smiled. "You're welcome, Martha Jones, and don't hesitate to ring me if you need my help again."

"I won't."

The TARDIS door slid open and he cast one more glance at her.

"Goodbye, Doctor."

"Goodbye for now, Martha Jones."

As soon as the door was closed, Martha frowned when she caught sight of a symbol drawn on it: the letter 'M' with an arrow tail. She couldn't help but wonder what it was as the TARDIS dematerialized.

As soon as they were in the Vortex, the Doctor turned to Patrick. "You really were brilliant today, Patrick."

Patrick blushed again. "Thank you."

"But you have a decision to make. Martha told me that she told you what traveling with me is like, so I need to know. Do you want to keep going in the TARDIS with me, or do you want me to take you home?"

Patrick looked at the floor. "Well, she told me that it's dangerous, that I could die, but she also said it was wonderful. Doctor, my life hasn't been wonderful for a long time, and if I run the risk of dying to make it that way, I'm willing to risk it."

The Doctor beamed. "Alright, then! I believe I still owe you a trip to the time and place of your choice! Where to?" And with that, they hurtled onward to their next adventure.


	3. Unspeakable

**The Companion Diaries**

"**Unspeakable"**

_Author's note: This chapter is the first (aside from the first chapter) since I lost my best beta reader, and I wanted to post it to give Whovians something to read. This is very much a filler chapter, but I do hope you'll enjoy it. - JSB_

_We'll meet beyond the shore  
We'll kiss just as before_

_Happy we'll be beyond the sea  
And never again I'll go sailing_

The dulcet tones of Ol' Blue Eyes swam around a spacious room, just like the raven-haired person knifing through the waters of the TARDIS' swimming pool. With the grace of a dancer, Patrick front-flipped and went effortlessly into floating on his back.

_I can't believe the TARDIS has a pool!_

He had to stop himself; the bigger-on-the-inside box could travel through space and time, so why was he in awe of it having a pool? He chuckled and propelled himself around the water's surface, watching the ceiling go by. Although he hadn't decided where his one trip would end up, the Doctor had taken him to Renaissance Venice for Carnival, the top of Mount Everest (for a few minutes, anyway), and to a planet called For'nissa for the Dancing Lights of Am'Ahara; the last was something he didn't think he could dream up. Millions of floating light spheres dancing across a sky streaked with purple and blue seemed like something only one person in 100,000,000,000 could think up, but it had left him speechless for hours afterward. On his back, he saw the Doctor's face drift into view, although his voice was garbled underwater. Patrick righted himself and shook water off his head.

"Pardon?"

"I found something. Well, not something. But not something enough to be something."

"Come again?"

He took the walk to the bridge to dry himself off, and the towel draped over his shoulders as they approached a control panel.

"Listen to this." As the Doctor turned a dial, static faded into nothing.

"Listen to what?"

"Exactly."

Patrick's breath caught in his chest. "Tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means."

"Shall we?"

Pat looked down at his trunks. "I think I should change."

"I'll find out exactly where we're going."

The Companion paused as he got to the top of the ramp that would lead him to the wardrobe. "Doctor?"

The man raised his head.

"Was Martha right?"

"About what?"

"About it being dangerous?"

The Time Lord nodded.

"Just making sure." He continued on to the dressing room, leaving the Doctor to punch in numbers on a keypad. As soon as he dressed, he joined the more smartly-dressed of the pair just in time to land. "Where are we?"

"Looks like Malchance, France, 1924."

"Guess I didn't have to worry about learning French." Patrick chuckled.

The Doctor laughed as well. "We're here."

The box went still and they went to the front doors, waiting for a second before opening them. Outside, a grassy field laden with fog and moonlight greeted them, and Patrick took a deep breath before stepping into it. As soon as they were both out, a light in the distance started bobbing side to side, growing closer to them through the thick mist, and Patrick took a step back.

_What have we gotten ourselves into?_

"Hello!" The Doctor's voice resounded through the air, and he could have sworn he'd seen a few other things moving in the fog. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Patrick turned around to see the air on top of the TARDIS shift. "What in the...?"

The light came ever closer to reveal an older man holding a lantern.

The Doctor beamed. "Hello! Do you know where the closest town is?"

The visitor pointed south.

"Right then. Thank you." As the Doctor went, so did Patrick, and they started heading away from a pair of shapes moving through the field.

"Doctor, what's going on here?"

"I have no idea, but that man was rude."

"Okay, so what does this mean? Why here? Why now?"

"Radio silence in the universe is rare. It usually means something's wrong."

"Wonderful." He let out a sigh as a road materialized in front of them, and a look forward told them that there was, indeed, a town. Moving toward the lights that shimmered in the fog brought them by a simple wooden sign tacked to a tree with _Malchance_ scrawled on it in black paint. Patrick squinted as the letters shifted to read _Bad Luck_ and swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Doctor, did you-"

"Yes, and I'm not getting a good feeling from it."

A few yards from the sign, buildings started to take shape in the haze, and both of them could see people in the windows of the shops and houses. Lamplight illuminated stone walls and thatched roofs, and Patrick shivered.

"Hello?" The alien's voice sounded louder than normal, creeping into every nook and cranny of the small town, and Patrick jumped when he slammed into the ground.

"Doctor!" Pat went down as something hit his shoulder. "Doctor!" Something rammed into his cheek and he tasted blood. He heard a _shhhhhh_ from the Doctor; his breath caught in his chest again.

"Keep quiet. I think they only attack when you speak loudly." The Time Lord's voice was but a whisper as they got to their feet, looking around. He beckoned to Patrick and pointed to a cottage without a lamp burning inside and a hole in the roof.

The Companion froze when the Doctor opened the door, but moonlight showed the building to be abandoned. He closed the door and shivered again, making sure to whisper as he spoke. "What the bloody hell is going on here?"

"I don't know, but we're going to find out." He whipped out the Screwdriver and turned a knob on it; a lower pitched hum than normal sounded, but the tool was knocked out of his hand as soon as it did. He picked it up and slipped it back into his pocket, letting out a low whistle. "Okay, so that won't work. What now?"

"How am I supposed to know? _You_ brought us here, remember?"

"Come on, you're the one who got past UNIT guards! You're the one who fended off those possessed guards in Venice!"

"You're the Time Lord, Time Lord!"

"Alright, then. Follow me." The Doctor opened the cottage's door and led Patrick to the main thoroughfare in town. People still watched from their windows, but their attention seemed split between them and something in the fog. Both in the pair noticed the same shapes moving around them, but neither could make out what they were and what they would do if either of them made any noise.The Doctor jumped when Patrick tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to see a child, a girl, standing in the middle of the main road. She beckoned to them and turned around, walking away; they both hesitated before following her.

A good distance away from town, she stopped and turned around, voice no louder than the pair's minutes before. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor, and this is Patrick. We're visitors. What's your name?"

"Jean. Are you here to save us?"

"From what?"

"The other visitors. They came here on my eighth birthday. I just turned 10 last month."

"What do they want?"

"I don't know, but they won't leave. They took Mama."

"I take it they don't like noise?"

"No. They took everyone who wouldn't stop shouting."

"What are they?"

"I don't know. Nobody can see them."

The Doctor stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "I promise you that we'll save everyone."

"There's a place they don't want us to go." She pointed to the forest west of town.

"It sounds like the very place we _should_ go! Thank you very much, Jean." He turned back to Patrick. "Shall we?"

As they walked back toward town, more shapes moved around them, but neither dared to whisper that close to so many. The number seemed to double as they reached a branch of road extending into the place "they don't want us to go."

The fog seemed to thicken as they turned left, both almost picking up on a feeling that made the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end; the shapes weren't moving, but the air shimmered a bit in more places than they were comfortable with.

"They don't like sound, right?" The Doctor pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver.

"Right?"

"Well then. I don't think they'll like this much." He turned a knob on the side and aimed it in front of them; a press of the button saw the horde dropping to the ground. The Time Lord went hurtling to the ground as something hit him from behind.

"Doctor!" Patrick dove to the ground, feeling something rush by overhead. The world went black, however, when something struck him on the head.

When he came to, his jaw ached as he adjusted to having a piece of rope in his mouth, and he blinked a few times to see the Doctor bound and gagged as well, propped onto a crude chair. He jumped when he noticed several large humanoid lizards looming over them.

One of them, sporting feathers dangling from earrings, stepped forward, hissing and then speaking in a whisper. "What do we have here? Trespassers. Noisy trespassers with their noisy machine."The alien removed the gag from the Doctor's mouth.

The Doctor smirked. "From what I've heard, _you're_ the trespassers. What do you want with these people anyway?"

"That, Doctor, is none of your concern."

"Then at least tell me what you do with the people who won't stop shouting. I've heard that you take them. To where?"

"We have no need to keep the noisy ones."

Patrick felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach. Jean hadn't meant kidnapped...

"Then what do you intend to do to us?"

"We can't let you leave; we'll simply dispose of you like the others."

"Do you really think it'll be that easy to get rid of us?"

"We have this." The leader held up the Screwdriver, and the Doctor cleared his throat and let out a scream, making him drop it. While the lizards flew into motion, the Doctor launched himself out of his chair and landed on top of the fallen implement, activating it. The lizards dropped to the ground and the ropes binding the Doctor snapped; he took the opportunity to undo Patrick's bonds as well. They high-tailed it back to town and looked around wildly.

"Where do we go?" Patrick dove to the ground, nearly avoiding a collision with a cloaked lizard as he did.

"Back to the TARDIS!"

Patrick scrambled to his feet and ran after the Time Lord, being extra careful about how much noise he was making along the way; eventually, they reached the blue box and hurried inside.

The Doctor made sure to lock the door behind them; as soon as he did, the TARDIS started jerking as what they could only assume to be the lizards started throwing themselves at the time machine. "Okay, so we know what we're dealing with!"

"What, giant lizards with cloaking devices who are sensitive to sound?"

"Exactly. Sononas. A race of humanoid lizards who are _extremely_ sensitive to sound. I just wonder what they're doing in rural 1920's France, of all places."

"Maybe they crashed here?"

"Well, that _could_ explain why they're here, but I can't figure out why they'd be here, of all places."

"You keep saying that."

"Let's say they're trying to take over the world in a time when serious weaponry didn't exist on Earth. Why this town?"

"Maybe they wanted to take over Earth?"

"Maybe...it would make sense. In this time, starting in a rural area and then mounting a force against the city is a good strategy, but why have they stayed here?"

"Is something _keeping_ them here?"

"Maybe. Let's get outside of town." The Doctor activated the control panel and the TARDIS began wobbling until it seemed to bounce against something, then landed with a jolt. "Whoa! What have we here?"

They exited the phone box and saw a device that looked like a satellite dish the size of a basketball.

"What's that?" Patrick felt the chill of the fog setting into his bones.

The Time Lord approached the device and jumped when it emitted a high-pitched squeal as he tried to step around it; the noise stopped when he came back around the front of it. "It's a sonic proximity generator. That's what's keeping them here."

"Who put those here?"

"I don't know, but it's someone I'd like to meet. It's genius, keeping them in place with sonic proximity generators! This may have very well stopped a global invasion."

"Okay, so now what?"

"Now," the Doctor stepped over to the device again, "we call a meeting." The Screwdriver hummed as he adjusted it, and as soon as he'd found the right setting, the device let out a magnified version of the squeal they'd heard it make before.

The fog roiled as seemingly every Sononan in Malchance raced toward them, and Patrick covered his ears.

"STOP!" The Doctor's voice rang out like a cannon, and every lizard stopped, albeit invisible in the fog. "Where are your leaders?"

One of them, the interrogator from before, stepped forward and dropped his cloak of invisibility. "You wish to negotiate with us? We have no use for anything you have to offer."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed. "I'm not here to negotiate. Remember this?" The leader flinched at the sight of the Sonic Screwdriver. "I'll take that as a yes. It can use this device to magnify a frequency that would turn your brains to mush, but I'll give you a choice."

"You're in no position to be bargaining."

"You have two options. You can hop on your spacecraft and leave this town and this planet, never to return, or I liquefy your brains."

"The frequency you describe would also deafen the humans in town."

"I'm willing to take that risk."

"You would be willing to harm the humans here to kill us?"

"Sometimes, there are sacrifices."

Patrick's heart hammered against his sternum. "Doctor, you can't do that! There has to be another way."

"I don't think there _is_ another way," he regarded the leader, "unless, that is, you'd like to pack up and leave."

"We'd sooner die, but there are only two of you and hundreds of us. Why are you of any threat to us?"

"Because we're the only ones in the world who can stop you." The Doctor hit a button on the Screwdriver and made the proximity generator flare to life.

All over town, within the boundary created by other generators around Malchance let fly a wail that. pierced the air into the skulls of every Sononan. The sound sent them all keeling to the ground, holding their heads and screaming. People watched from inside their homes, fearful of the now seemingly boiling fog covering town.

The leader got to his knees and looked at the Doctor before falling to the ground like the hundreds of his companions; the generator stopped squealing, leaving Patrick's mouth agape while he looked at the Doctor. Finally, the lizards stopped moving and the fog began to clear.

"What are you thinking?! That frequency made everyone else deaf!"

The Time Lord smiled. "I only said that the generator would magnify a frequency that melted their brains. I didn't say that it was high enough to damage human hearing."

Patrick broke out in a smile. "I should have figured. You always have a plan."

"That I do, Patrick, that I do. Now, I think we have someone we need to see before we leave."

They didn't have to go far into town to see Jean standing beside a house, smiling. "Thank you, Doctor. You saved us."

The Doctor beamed. "I told you I would!"

"Where's your friend?"

The Time Lord looked over his shoulder and spun around when he couldn't find Patrick. "Patrick?" He looked back the way they'd come, but the search revealed nothing. "Excuse me, Jean. I need to go find my Companion."

"Thank you again!"

"You're very welcome." He smiled and bowed to her before turning on his heel and heading off.

"Now, if I was Patrick, where would I be?"

_I can't believe the TARDIS has a pool!_

Regardless of what sparked that particular memory, the Doctor altered his course for the blue phone box and, just as his intuition had said, Patrick was sitting on the edge of the pool, feet danging into the water that seemed to be more interesting than liquid should.

"You should have told me you were coming back."

Patrick looked up with hollow eyes. "Two weeks."

"What?"

"I've been gone for two weeks. Two weeks of time shifts and time travel and Sononans. Is this what it's like all the time?" Hints of a wince showed on Patrick's face.

The Doctor chuckled again. "You get used to it."

"Did Martha?"

The alien's smile faded. "No. She never did."

"How many others have there been?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Patrick started paying attention to the pool again. "No." His eyes burned when he looked up again. "I don't know if..." His head dropped. "I think I just need some sleep. Do you know of anywhere we can go to rest?"

"I think so. Did you want to sleep until we get there?"

The Companion raised his head and nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. Wake me when we get there." He cleared his throat as he got up, tracking water onto the floor along the pool, up the stairs, and down the hallway.

The Doctor had said that the TARDIS was bigger on the inside, but he hadn't any idea _how_ big until he'd gone exploring in the bowels of the ship. His room or, rather, the room he'd claimed, was just past a bathroom, and the walls masked any sounds the time machine made. The door slid open long enough to allow him entry, and he collapsed on the bed. Pulling out his phone, he opened the contacts list and located one he'd added before going back to the pool: Martha. A button sent a call, and he put the device to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Martha? It's Patrick."

"Patrick! How've you been?"

"I...how long were you with the Doctor?"

"Actually, I lost track. Over a year, definitely."

"It's only been two weeks."

"You've made it two weeks? Congratulations!"

"I want to go home."

"So did I. It took me a while to stop being homesick, but didn't you say you didn't have anything to go back to?"

"Yes."

"Look, traveling with the Doctor isn't easy; I'm sure you know that by now. But do you know what? If someone gave me the chance to go back and do it over again, I wouldn't. I wouldn't trade a minute of time I spent with him."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Maybe I just need to pay home a visit."

"Make it short. If you stay too long, you won't want to leave again."

"Gotcha. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Get some sleep."

"Right. Talk to you later." He hung up and set the mobile on the bed before he lay down and closed his eyes, the ship's passage through the Vortex rocking him to sleep.

On deck, meanwhile, the Doctor programmed a set of coordinates into the TARDIS' computers and flipped a few switches to set their destination. He'd thought that Patrick would rather have gone home, but then again, he hadn't asked to go there, had he? His eyes drifted to a console and froze upon seeing a business card embellished with the symbol for Scorpio; on the back was "You're welcome." A raised eyebrow accompanied the card's trip to his jacket pocket and his fingers resumed the dance that would take them to a place he'd only heard of and hopefully, wouldn't be like the last resort he'd chanced upon.

His hearts gave a twinge when he thought about how she waited...

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and guided the TARDIS to materialize on the domed-over landing pad of one of the most famous space stations in existence during 2100: the Carrington-Ellis Station, renowned for its luxury "galactic" amenities at a price almost anyone could afford with a little scrounging. When he opened the doors, however, red lights washed over him again and again, accompanied by the realization that the landing pad didn't have any lights _but_ those.

"This can't be good..."

In the depths of the ship, Patrick awoke when it stopped moving and turned on the lights; no missed calls on his phone, and no sign that the Doctor had visited him in his sleep.

"Bloody hell, I hope he found somewhere good. Without possessed guards, if possible." Not needing to slip his shoes on, he rolled out of bed and opened the door, immediately beset with a chill. He swallowed a lump in his throat and made his way to the bridge, not seeing the Time Lord anywhere.

"Doct0r?"

His echo followed him to the door, and he stopped when he placed his hands on the wood. They slid to the side when he pushed, and his breath stopped for a second when he saw someone with the barrel of a gun aimed right at him.

_To Be Continued..._

_Author's Note: Attention, Whovians! If you're interested in my story, I'm looking for a couple of good beta readers. Please PM me if you're interested._


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